Bio of MEALEY, William P. (b.1843 d.1919), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
========================================================

Vol II, pg 398-401
WILLIAM P. MEALEY
With the death of William P. Mealey there passed from the active life of
Minneapolis, one who formed a connecting link between the pioneer past and the
progressive present. With the development of the city he was closely associated
through his real estate transactions, for many of the important property
transfers of the city were negotiated by him through an extended period. Mr.
Mealey came to this state from Indiana, his birth having there occurred in
Franklin, Madison county, on the 4th of February, 1843, his parents being
William A. and Margaret (Harsin) Mealey, the latter a native of Pennsylvania. In
the year 1856 the parents came to Minnesota and the father took up a claim on
Silver creek in Wright county.
William P. Mealey was a lad of about thirteen years when the family home was
established in Minneapolis, where he continued his education in the public
schools. Following the outbreak of the Civil war he responded to the country's
call for troops to aid in the preservation of the Union and enlisted as a member
of Company A, Third Minnesota Infantry. He went to the front with the Boys in
Blue and was on active duty until honorably discharged on account of illness
which incapacitated him for further service.
Following his return, home Mr. Mealey attended business college in St. Paul and
thus qualified for the responsibilities of his later career. He was first
identified with the lumber firm of J. Dean & Company for several years and later
was employed by the Pioneer Fuel Company. Ambitious, however, to engage in
business on his own account he eagerly availed himself of the opportunities
offered and worked his way upward until he felt that his experience and capital
justified him in engaging in business for himself. Accordingly he opened a real
estate office under the old Security Bank building when that institution was
opened for business and he continued in that business to the time of his demise,
handling many big property transfers. He sold the property owned by the Godfrey
estate for the erection of the Soldiers' Home and was instrumental in
influencing the establishment of that institu­tion in Minneapolis. He became
recognized as one of the most careful valuators and his opinions became
recognized as authority upon all questions of property worth or the possibility
of property transfers.
On the 24th of December, 1868, Mr. Mealey was married to Miss Agatha
Vander-warker, a daughter of James and Olive (Doughty) Vanderwarker, who arrived
in Minneapolis in 1866. Her father was a native of the state of New York, while
her mother was born in Vermont and in the pioneer period of the northwest they
became connected with the interests of Minneapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Mealey became
parents of three children: Isabel, the wife of Porter J. Neff of Medford,
Oregon; Olive, the wife of Harry B. Humphry of Washington, D. C.; and Helen, the
wife of Richard J. Horgan of Minneapolis. Mr. Mealey was a member of Morgan
Post, G. A. R., and thus maintained pleasant relations with his old army
comrades. He always voted with the republican party, which was the defense of
the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and which has always been the
party of reform and progress. He loyally advocated any cause or measure which he
deemed beneficial in public affairs, his influence being always on the side of
advancement and improve­ment and his labors proved of real worth along those
lines. He died May 8, 1919, having been a resident of this city for sixty-three
years, so that he was familiar to a greater degree with the growth of the city,
his memory compassing the period when it was little more than a trading post on
the western frontier, when its milling and other manufacturing interests were in
their infancy and when there was com­paratively little promise of rapid advance.
He bore his part in the work of trans­formation that brought about the steady
growth and improvement of the city and the essential worth of his work was
widely acknowledged.